Locust Grove Event Pavilion | Louisville - Kentucky | 2023

Architects: de Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop
General Contractor: Woodbine Construction Co.
Client: Historic Locust Grove, Inc.
Photographers: de Leon & Primmer Architecture Workshop

The project is a new multi-use, open-air pavilion located on the grounds of Locust Grove, a 55-acre 18th-century farm site and National Historic Landmark in Louisville, Kentucky. The property operates as a historic interpretive site on the remaining William Croghan estate that consists of a Georgian farmhouse and outbuildings built by enslaved African Americans, emphasizing the legacy of George Rogers Clark Revolutionary War Hero and the founder of Louisville, who lived at the property.

The design approach takes inspiration from the property’s collection of historic buildings and site features most notably the predominant material palette of stone and timber. Sited on existing flat topography among a cluster of interpretive buildings and formal gardens, the new pavilion takes advantage of an overlapping system of public amenities and resources, including a shared catering kitchen and service yard from the adjacent visitor center. Access to the pavilion is multi-directional and site-specific, reinforcing a porous threshold from the west and forming a broad open canopy to the east. Careful positioning of the pavilion minimizes its visual impact on the landscape and maintains/frames important view sheds. Drawing on a key feature of the Georgian farmhouse, the pavilion form evokes the idea of a large-scale porch.

Profiled glulam beams are infilled with decorative secondary framing to create a coffered ceiling that recalls the sinewy texture of the black locust tree bark, a prevalent species growing throughout the grounds and the property’s namesake. Core service functions (storage and restrooms) are contained within limestone-clad volumes that create a visually porous edge to an entry plaza and vehicle drop-off area. Comprised of ordinary limestone sill modules (in smooth and rock-face finishes), a herringbone pattern evokes the patterns and hand-laid stonework of the ha-ha‚ walls, and split-rail fences that organize and define the property.